


night-check

by vhscassette



Series: hyacinth [2]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Sort Of, Winter, freeze - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 12:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18810652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vhscassette/pseuds/vhscassette
Summary: brr





	night-check

**Author's Note:**

> short drabble. takes place pre-cell saga after they start livin together

"Come on, Yamcha, go inside. I don't want you catching a cold," Tien said, crunching his feet through the snow as he finished his last-minute inspection of the front and back yard. The moonlight shone vividly across the snow, letting the hard packed, frozen snow glitter. The bitter numbness froze his lips, and he was _trained_ to embrace bad temperature; he didn't want to know how badly Yamcha was freezing out here.

 

"Oh, c-come on! Give me a break, dude, I'm a big boy," Yamcha said, seemingly not realizing his teeth chattering in the below-zero air. Tien rolled his eyes, turning back slightly to make sure Yamcha was turning around. When he wasn't, Tien rolled his eyes. Yamcha smiled at him. "Besides, if there _was_ someone out here, I don't want them double-teamin' ya."

 

Tien felt a little bit of suspicion and sadness creep up in his heart. He always, _always_ inspected around the perimeter at night-- but the reasons for it were not out of pure concern.

 

He always had a feeling that his old teachers would be lingering behind an oak in the distance.

 

Yamcha always followed him without question, and Tien never explained-- he merely hoped that he'd go with it. 'Still didn't make him feel any less childish, searching for a boogeyman. The temperature out here was nothing to play with, however, and he didn't want Yamcha to suffer from his own paranoia.

 

"No, Yamcha. Go in. I'm planning on doing a walk-around," Tien said, hoping his voice was firm enough to get his message across. When he continued to hear footsteps crunching behind him, he sighed tiredly.

 

"Hey. Come here," Yamcha said, teeth chattering when he closed his lips. Tien turned around and found a blanket being wrapped loosely around his shoulders.

 

Tien's face began to heat in the subzero weather.

 

"I thought you'd be wanting this. It's too cold for you to be out here by yourself, so I thought I'd join you," Yamcha muttered as he adjusted their shared blanket further. Tien _was_ in a few layers of clothing-- he wasn't _unprepared, per say--_ yet he was touched. Tien could find nothing to argue against as he lowered his head, turned around, and began walking with Yamcha while he inspected the perimeter.

 

The ground was sparkling with each step they took, and their view became clear as sharp, pure crystal. Yamcha was shivering slightly beside him-- maybe in only one layer of clothing _tops_ with his uniform boots.

 

Tien wrapped an arm, light as he could, around Yamcha's waist as he peered through the line of oaks near the distant edge of the property. No shadows, no silhouettes in the moonlight.

 

"I told you that you should've went inside," Tien softly chided, Yamcha giggling in response.

 

"And I told _you_ that I- that I don't care," Yamcha replied, shivering as a cold gust of wind blew through him. An unpleasant noise rattled through Yamcha's throat. Tien's eyebrows furrowed, his mind becoming numb as the air around him.

 

"Why..?" Tien asked, his heart beginning to weigh in his chest. This was most certainly a burden to him, and he didn't understand why he'd go through the effort.

 

Yamcha's smile was illuminated by the moonlight, his cheeks and nose flushed with scarlet. "Because," he sniffled suddenly in the cold and quickly turned away, "oh, god--" turned back-- "because you're my friend. _Obviously_ this means something to you, and if _you_ feel like you gotta do this, then I at least wanna be there to see the end of it."

 

Tien's heart thudded, finding his hand tightening just a little further at Yamcha's hip. "But--.. but this _hurts_ you. I'm not an _idiot,_ Yamcha."

 

Yamcha only shrugged, giving him a teeth-chattering, goofy-ass grin. His subsequent giggle left puffs of white air into the night.

 

Before he realized what he was doing, Tien found himself hugging Yamcha tightly. Boy, he was freezing, but..

 

Feeling him in his arms made his chest twist in a way that no cold could ever reach.

 

"God, you're, like, on fire, dude," Yamcha shivered with a giggle, Tien stiffening in embarrassment.

 

"It's.. I'm sure you're just very cold," Tien mumbled.

 

"It's okay, Tien. You're allowed to show affection sometimes, okay?" Yamcha teased jokingly, gently moving his shaking arms to hug him back.

 

"Oh, shut your mouth," Tien said, slowly adjusting his hold so he could fly the two of them back to the house.

 

Yamcha became startled as he was lifted up. "Wait-- wait, what about the night-check?"

 

"There's no one around," Tien mumbled distractedly, noticing how hot his cheeks felt in the deep freeze of the air.


End file.
